The first college in America was Harvard College founded in 1636 by the Puritan minister John Harvard. Being the first college in America, it set the precedent for all that followed. Even today, Harvard is considered the top university in America.

Harvard's original charter proclaimed: "Let every student be plainly instructed and ... consider it well, the main end of life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life [John 17:3], and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning." Notice that Christ was the "only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning" not just religious knowledge and learning, but all knowledge and learning. They recognized that the Bible contained "all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." 2 Peter 1:3. To Harvard, the Bible contained everything that pertained to life itself.

The original gate to Harvard is still in existence today. The inscription on the gate to Harvard reads:

AFTER GOD HAD CARRIED VS SAFE TO NEW ENGLAND

AND WE HAD BVILDED OUR HOUSES

PROVIDED NECESSARIES FOR OVR LIVELY-HOOD

REARD CONVENIENT PLACES FOR GOD'S WORSHIP

AND SETTLED THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT

ONE OF THE NEXT THINGS WE LONGED FOR

AND LOOKED AFTER WAS TO ADVANCE LEARNING

AND PERPETVATE IT TO POSTERITY

DREADING TO LEAVE AN ILLITERATE MINISTRY

TO THE CHVRCHES WHEN OUR PRESENT MINISTERS

SHALL LIE IN THE DVST.

NEW ENGLANDS FIRST FRVITS

The original motto and seal was Christo et Eclesia: Veritas; Christ and the Church: Truth. Harvard recognized that Christ was the source of truth itself. Nearly two hundred years later, George Washington Adams, the son of President John Quincy Adams, grandson of President John Adams and descendent of John Adams from the original Plymouth colony (1621), had this to say about the education that his generation was taught: "our fathers taught their children to 'search the scriptures,' thus laid the corner stone of learning's proudest temple, a reading and reflecting community."

History is crystal clear that the original Americans developed a nation with more freedom than any nation previous. They taught their children from the beginning to search the scriptures. The politicians that were developed under this system of education gave us the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Charles William Elliot became the president of Harvard in 1869. One of the first things that he did was remove Christ and the Church from the motto and seal of the college leaving only Veritas, truth. Under Elliot, Harvard would now search for truth outside of Christ and the Church. Now they would look to the philosophers of Europe instead of the great thinkers that had developed America. "One after the other, the greater universities of the country followed the reforms that Harvard had adopted; it was clear by the middle nineties that the Harvard of Eliot had set new standards for higher education in America," writes Morison. "By the turn of the century he was one of the leading public figures of the country; his opinion and support were sought on every variety of public question."

Mississippi changed the wording of its Constitution in 1890 to combat this type of ideological shift in education. Art. 3 Section 18 of our constitution states that the Holy Bible cannot be excluded from any public school in this state. Today we see in our newspapers, stories about children being suspended from school for bringing Bibles into the school, praying over a meal or graduation ceremony, or writing a paper about the importance of God or Jesus Christ in their lives. The Bible is definitely not taught as our only source for truth in all things in life.

The question still remains, are we better off as a society in modern America than we were before the Bible was taken out of our schools? Do we have any politicians of the caliber of a signer of the Declaration of Independence? If not, then why not? Maybe it is time for America to go back and learn how our nation was built and imitate how they accomplished the founding of America from a barren wilderness to become the envy of the world.

Most Americans realize that our educational system is not producing the results that we should expect. What was once the standard for the rest of the world has become sub-par in many areas. If you were to do an Internet search for the first American public education law you would find the Olde Deluder Satan Law of 1647. This law was from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. All the framework of our current educational system can be found in that short three-paragraph document.

This past weekend America celebrated Memorial Day to remember those who have given their lives in defense of Liberty. Nearly everything I see and hear from the media goes no further back in our history than WWII. I want to remind America of the first men who died in defense of our nation. They were the men who stood on Lexington Common on April 19, 1775. Those men were standing in front of their church. They were trained by their pastor, Rev. Jonas Clarke and commanded by their elder, John Parker.

Jeff Wallace, is a former Mississippi state representative candidate, and in his book "In God We Trusted" he explores the contradictions between his state's constitution and what the courts say about the separation of church and state. He believes in challenging people to seek out information and educate themselves about their country.

He is the winner of 2010 Christian Choice Book Award for his first book and holds an associate degree in theology from Way College of Biblical Research. For more than three decades he has been involved in non-denominational Christian outreach and teaching ministries and is married with two sons. For more information, visit http://2peter120.com/

"In God We Trusted"
By Jeff Wallace
ISBN: 978-1-4627-3521-1
Available in softcover and e-book
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CrossBooks